It’s funny. There’s a 13 year-old boy I live with who stayed home sick one day this week. Most of the television stations are locked, so cable news was one of his few viewing options. He can’t avoid a lot of political discussion in our household and he’s been following the campaign is a casual sort of way, even watching a few debates. But he’s no political junkie. When I came home from doing some errands, the sick boy looked up at me from under his blanket on the couch and said, “Curse you! This [motioning to political coverage on the teevee] is actually interesting.” Yes, he’s caught the bug, and he’s watching cable news again today.
I like getting feedback on the coverage from someone that is coming at this campaign fresh, without the scars of decades of political disappointment. He saw a Republican mocking Barack Obama for telling Joe the Would-Be Plumber that he wants to share the wealth a little bit. And he asked me, “Isn’t sharing the wealth a good thing?”
And, of course, sharing the wealth is an excellent thing. Every decent boy knows that. But there seems to be a breed of human being that doesn’t agree and thinks speaking about sharing is some kind of flub.
Take this ass-clown who writes for US News & World Report:
No. Really. You’re kidding me. Barack Obama actually told that Joe the Plumber guy that he wants to “spread the wealth around.” What, did Obama just get done reading the Wikipedia entry on Huey “Share the Wealth” Long or something? Was he somehow channeling that left-wing populist from the Depression? Talk about playing into the most extreme stereotype of your party, that it is infested with socialists.
Republicans respond this way so frequently and so vociferously that even some progressives flinch when they hear someone say something as common-sensical as “let’s share the wealth.” But young progressives that have not been tainted by previous political campaigns are immune to this defense mechanism. Of course we should share the wealth. That’s just obvious.